Bybit to reward clients using Ethena's USDtb token backed by BlackRock’s BUIDL as stablecoin market heats up
Quick Take
- Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit plans to begin rewarding clients who hold or use Ethena’s USDtb, the stablecoin backed by BlackRock’s tokenized BUIDL fund, this week.
- The move comes as the stablecoin market grows increasingly competitive, with the United States potentially crafting regulatory certainty regarding the tokens.
Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit plans to begin rewarding clients who hold or use Ethena’s USDtb stablecoin, which is backed by the BlackRock BUIDL token, starting this week.
"USDtb, an Ethena ecosystem stablecoin, backed by BlackRock BUIDL, has been listed on Bybit and will be available as margin collateral within a week as of March 6th," Ethena Labs posted to social media on Tuesday. "Bybit users are able to earn up to 5.00% APR, paid daily by Bybit, for simply holding or utilizing USDtb anywhere on Bybit."
The move comes as the stablecoin market grows increasingly competitive and the U.S. nears establishing regulatory certainty around stablecoins. Less than a week ago, Bybit launched a program to incentivize the use of Tether's USDT, the world's largest stablecoin by market cap.
"Bybit represents the first CeFi Exchange to support USDtb and furthers our shared goal of helping to improve users' capital efficiency," Ethena said on Tuesday. "USDtb's reserve assets are held with custodians in segregated, onchain, and public wallets ... real-time transparency information is available via both the blockchain and our 'Transparency' page."
USDtb launch
Ethena introduced its new USDtb stablecoin last December. The token is backed by BlackRock’s tokenized BUIDL fund, which has over half a billion dollars in assets, mostly U.S. Treasury bills. The launch marked a significant shift for Ethena, which initially entered the synthetic dollar market with its experimental USDe token, which is pegged to the U.S. dollar through a derivative-based trading strategy.
USDtb launched in partnership with Securitize, the issuer of the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, or BUIDL. The token represents a share of a tokenized fund that mainly invests in short-term U.S. government debt as well as cash and repos. It is the largest tokenized fund of its kind and trades on Aptos, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Ethereum, Optimism and Polygon.
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